Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea for the first time in seven years since June 2019. This will be the first overseas trip of the year, coming right after consecutive summits between the United States and China and between China and Russia held in Beijing last month.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 5th, a Spokesperson for the International Department of the Communist Party of China said in the morning that "President Xi, at the invitation of North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairperson Kim Jong-un, is scheduled to make a state visit to North Korea from the 8th to the 9th." North Korean media also reported Xi's planned visit around the same time.
Earlier, according to Bloomberg and other foreign media, signs of preparations in Pyongyang for Xi's visit had recently been observed. A U.S. commercial satellite company captured screens being set up at the center of Kim Il Sung Square and a large structure being erected, and video on social media posted by Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who recently visited North Korea, showed construction materials placed in the square.
In April, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Pyongyang for the first time in six years and met with Chairperson Kim Jong-un, prompting speculation that it was groundwork for Xi's visit.
This trip will be Xi's first overseas visit of the year. As it comes right after back-to-back meetings in Beijing last month with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, attention is expected to focus on the substance of his talks with the chairperson Kim.